No, little voter, you cannot term-limit the Illinois lawmakers who've ruined this state's finances; the politicians don't want that. Nor can you stop legislative leaders from gerrymandering their members' district maps; the Illinois Supreme Court says that injustice is OK. But if the pols of both parties won't let you do something good for you, they will let you do something good for them and their friends:

They want you to enshrine in the Illinois Constitution a perpetual payday for their loyal donors in road-building and organized labor. You could say they've all got this thing — this proposed amendment — and for them it's ... golden!

The stated aim of the amendment — it'll be on your Nov. 8 ballot — is to prevent state and local governments from using transportation revenue for non-transportation purposes. Sounds fine, to a point. But the diabolical effect is that contractors, and the unions whose members they employ, would have constitutionally guaranteeddibs on future billions of state and local revenue dollars.

That is, they'd have dibs on tax collections so that some future Illinois — an Illinois where finances are even more disastrous than today's — couldn't circumvent this amendment even in a natural catastrophe or other crisis. This amendment would, for example, wall off road dollars from any emergency uses for basic human needs. You've seen how rigidly the constitution's pension protection clause forbids public pension reforms? Well, the pavement protection clause would be just as rigid.

Budgeting for bridges doesn't belong in a constitution. It's a key but routine goal that governors, members of the General Assembly and local governing bodies can enforce on their own — without making the Illinois Constitution a playpen for some verrry special interests.

You'll hear lots about this proposal via the advertising its supporters are lavishly funding. And you can tell from all their public-relations sweet talk just how frantic they are to perfume this pig:

The legislators who voted to put this on the ballot — that is, the overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats — should have called it "The Illinois Crony Protection Amendment of 2016." Instead they came up with "Safe Roads Constitutional Amendment." Are the backers accurately labeled "Contractors and Unions Determined to Get Ours First"? No, instead they're the noble-sounding "Citizens to Protect Transportation Funding." And is their motto the brutally honest "We got this sucker on the ballot because we own the Capitol"? No, they're crooning the almost patriotic "Put Illinois' Transportation Money in a Lock Box (sic) and Keep Illinois Safe."

Gosh, who opposes keeping Illinois safe? Who wants dangerous roads? Nobody. But that's no excuse for cluttering up a constitution that has to serve not only today's priorities but future priorities that may be very different.

The backers complain that transportation revenue at times has been diverted to other purposes. Yes, but only because the elected representatives of the people decided that was necessary. Or, at least as likely, because they have no self-control overspending. And the only way to bring discipline to Illinois governments is to chisel it into the constitution?

This amendment was so well-greased in Springfield that some politicians think it's sure to succeed. But it requires 60 percent support to pass, so there's a chance other groups that rely on sparse state dollars will be able kill it — maybe educators, human services providers, groups that fight for disadvantaged citizens or university officials who someday may need emergency funding.

If for no other reason, all of us should vote against this amendment because of the legislators' self-serving behavior:

Lawmakers won't put on the ballot an amendment to reform redistricting. They won't impose term limits on themselves. Yet they'll happily stick on the ballot an enormous favor for the road-builders and unions that donate to their campaigns.

Here's a better idea: Let's not stop with transportation. Let's put every dollar of state spending into the Illinois Constitution and then eliminate all 177 legislators. Once we've perpetually frozen budgeting into an amendment, we won't need them.